While the line comes from the Peanuts Halloween special, you can use Charlie Brown's exact intonation after looking in his bag as you read the next line:

I got a Dilbert calendar.

But I've trained my family, back in Boston, away from anything that isn't plane-, airport-, or TSA-friendly in the last few years, so it was in some ways a decent attempt.

But I brought for my sister's boyfriend, my cousin, and my best friends gift boxes from the Spice House -- her boyfriend got the more generic Meat package (he's not much into the hot spices), while the others got the BBQ collection. These went over well, I do admit.

And friends here who helped with the cat-sitting and whatnot are receiving packages from Harvard Square's Burdicks (the word "decadent" is too easily thrown around with chocolate these days, but Burdicks makes its own very, very rich hot chocolate mix) and Tealuxe (40 grams of their oolong).

As for me, I need a saucier and a 12" saute pan, and I've been eyeing a couple of the cookbooks that focus on sauces, so I anticipate some self-gifting soon...

I just received an incredible new cookbook for Xmas from Mexico titled: Mulli, un Libro de los Moles written by Patricia Quintana. About 300 pages about moles, not just recipes, but fabulous photos and extensive historical narratives and even poems about moles in both Spanish and Nahautl.

Josephine wrote:Cathy2-- So glad you get a kick out of the Mayor's honey. I thought you would. I have one jar left, so one day I'll pick up some White Lily flour and make some biscuits (my favorite food on earth) and we'll taste it. You can keep your jar intact as a novelty.

I already have several bags of White Lily flour, which allows me to donate one to the cause!

Lunch Saturday, Christmas Eve, with Mrs. JiLS and her dad at Angotti's in Syracuse. Last time for all of us, exactly one year ago, Mrs. JiLS's mom was still with us; she passed at the end of September. Like every other at Angotti's, it was a wonderful meal. This time, for the first time, we tried the "Neopolitan" (NY) style pizza, crisp, bubbly and black on the bottom crust, minimal and fresh ingredients on top. Friendly dialogue with the owners (who know all their regulars, which includes us, strange enough). Pizza for six, at $8. That plus a lasagna in that red, red Syracuse sauce; leftovers through Sunday. Well, it was not entirely smiles, but it was a memorable holiday meal for us nonetheless.

My Mom the bargain shopper gave me this book, which beats any previous bargain table food book she's sent my way. (She also gave me, for my birthday, Steven Raichlen's Barbecue Bible. As GWiv said, "Now that people know you do barbecue, you'll get four or five of them every year.")

My wonderful SIL arranged for my niece and nephew to gift me 2 - 12" wooden magnetic knife holders I have been wanting to help store my collection. She and my BIL got me a set of Wolfgang Puck SS Mixing Bowls. I was introduced to these by my friend Kit in N. Michigan this past summer. Great storage capacity and the best lidded metal bowl I have ever used or seen. The lids set into the top and seal. They nest well too.

Yesterday, with Amata a bit under the weather and me nursing a hockey injury to my knee, there was a rather gloomy atmosphere here in our part of Drei-Schneider and it seemed very hard to bear in mind that it was still the middle of the Winter Holiday Season. But then the door bell chimed and when Amata opened the door to see who it was, she found no one on the stoop but did espy a sizeable, paper-wrapped package protruding prominently from the mail box...

...Hannukah Harry gave to us...

...a Fresh Pie from Brooklyn with a Sicilian Crus'!

Now, as I was immobilised on account of my knee, I saw nothing, but Amata insists that as she was removing this wonderful gift from the mail box, she heard a voice with a pronounced New Netherlandish accent saying «Happy Hannukah!» and she swears further that she caught a glimpse of a kabouter-like fellow waving back toward her as he hopped away through the bushes down the street, a fellow who bore an uncanny resemblance to Hungry Rabbi.

We got an amazing food gift from my sister and brother-in-law who have a farm just north of Boulder, CO. They sent us "The Farn in a Box." Lyle (BiL) made a big batch of his famous puttanesca so he sent two big jars of that, my niece Emily made her Grandmother Bettina's traditional vinaigrette, so we got 2 bottles of that (This is the vinaigrette that dresses Lyle's greens every night from June to September.) My sister is the baker so there were 2 dozen macaroons that she and her son made. There were 4 delicata squash which Lyle grew. And then they included Boulder-based favorites like Haystack Mountain Goat Cheese, a package of Italian Sausage from the Boulder Sausage Co. 4 bars (!!!) of Chocolove and a big hunk of Blue Cheese from another local cheesemaker whose name escapes me.

My husband and I lived in Denver for 3 years and we worked Farmer's Market every Saturday for three seasons and ate many meals around their big farm table and we miss them incredibly. This was the closest thing to actually being there.

So now I'm plotting a Chicago-based box or even an Andersonville Box since right in my own hood we have so many delicious things.

This Christmas we received a Reidel decanter.
It looks like a hospital urinal and is even called a duck. I never used a decanter before and would not have bought one for myself. Restaurants don't use them. I could tell an improvement in decanting hearty reds. Compared to freshly poured, the decanted wine lost any hint of sulphur or solvents. It made the wine fruiter. You do have to be cafeful about drips, though.

I also got a 40's glass vacuum coffee maker. Since roasting my own coffee, one can never have too many makers. I immediately ordered 2 lbs of the new Kona crop to break it in.

I gave a jar of the truffle salt to my sister who uses a lot of truffle oil. While the oil is good, I don't think it tastes like truffles. It can be a bit cloying, go rancid quickly, be expensive and some brands have no flavor at all. While truffle salt sounds like the salt would over power the flavor, it doesn't. The truffle flavor is very intense. A small pince is all that is needed. Wonderful stuff.

I was a Whole Foods recently and saw black truffles from Oregon. Has anybody tried these?

kit wrote:It looks like a hospital urinal and is even called a duck. I never used a decanter before and would not have bought one for myself. Restaurants don't use them. I could tell an improvement in decanting hearty reds. Compared to freshly poured, the decanted wine lost any hint of sulphur or solvents. It made the wine fruiter. You do have to be cafeful about drips, though.Kit

Although it looks kind of funny and seems potentially awkward to pour from, the decanter has the advantage of providing increased surface area for the wine (thus increased opportunity for the wine to breath before serving).

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gleam wrote:Two types of salt this year: a box of Maldon in my stocking and a lovely, really potent, jar of 95% salt/5% black truffle from my sister

Ed,

After reading about your gift, and having tried truffle salt at Kit's house at a Q-Fest, I've been on a bit of a hunt. Zingermans, where Kit bought his, does not carry it on the web, nor any longer in the store. I was just about to buy some from the link you provided then though, hummmm, bet Fox and Obel carries truffle salt. Yep, they carry the same brand, Ritrovo Truffle Salt, and I'm here to tell you it's very damn good.

Ritrovo Truffle Salt

Very powerful truffle smell and subtle, yet significant, taste sprinkled lightly on slightly warm, buttered Fox and Obel bread and a baked potato. A little even found it's way to my duck breast. (While I was at Fox and Obel I picked up ingredients for dinner, baking potato, duck breast, veggie.

Truffle salt is expensive, but a very small amount makes a big impact.

always be wary of producs that list truffles at reasonable prices - its generally summer truffles...the Great truffles are the Perigord Black winter truffles or the White truffles from Alba...

Big difference.

You could always get a couple dried perigord or alban truffles, grind them up really fine in a burr grinder or something, and mix them in a 19:1 ratio with salt. It seems like an easy enough thing to make at home You could even increase it to a 9:1 ratio with salt for more truffley goodness.

Haven't seen it yet, but at least two copies are wending their way here via Postes Canada Post. A friend pdf'd a copy of the cidre article, and I'm off tomorrow to check out a couple of those places, taste the goods. Really looking forward to that--one of the guys makes his own version of calvados!

Man, a guy can find something to eat in this town!

Biggest surprize has been the Portuguese scene--I hadn't expected that at all.

When you coming up??!

Geo

Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

Was in Sam's Wine yesterday picking up a thing or three and happened to notice they had Truffle Salt. The Savini Tartufi, which is not the same brand pictured upthread, looks quite good, very similar to the Casina Rossa. Best thing is the Savini truffle salt cost $8.49 with the 15% discount Sam's is currently giving on all food/gourmet items.

I bought a few boxes of Malden salt, $4.49 less 15% which puts it under $4.

For Christmas, my mom gave me the well-worn first edition of The Boston Cooking School Cookbook that belonged to my great-grandmother. I have been surprised by how sophisticated and wide-ranging this cookbook is. I can't wait to mine if for historic recipes of interest.